The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has placed Chile among the top 50 economies in the world in its World Economic Outlook report after raising estimates on the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.

In the report a country’s per capita GDP is calculated at “purchasing power parity” (PPP), meaning its average wealth is measured in terms of its living cost. GDP is placed in “international dollars.” Using these guidelines Chile’s per capita GDP was measured at US$18,354 this year, an upgrade from IMF’s April forecast of US$17,974.

The new estimates placed Chile just above Argentina, which stands at US$18,205, and well ahead of neighbors like Uruguay (US$15,840), Mexico (US$15,300), Panama (US$15,266), Venezuela (US$13,242) and Brazil (US$12,038), making Chile the highest ranked of all Latin American nations.

Furthermore, the report predicted that in 2014 the Andean nation would be the first in the region with a GDP per capita higher than US$20,000.

The World Economic Outlook divides the world into two major groups: advanced economies and emerging and developing economies.

While there is no concrete separation between developed and developing nations, El Mercurio writes that the figure of US$20,000 per capita GDP “is considered by some analysts as the benchmark to enter the club of developed nations,” or “advanced economies.”

Chile has already gone some way toward official recognition in this economic bracket, becoming the first South American member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – a group of comprised of the world’s developed economies – in 2010.

More good news to come from the World Economic Outlook was the IMFs increased growth projection for the Chilean economy in 2012, up from 4.3 percent to 5 percent. This is mirrored by figures from the Chilean Central Bank, which recently adjusted its 2012 outlook for Chile’s economic growth from 5 percent to 5.1 percent.